Heel attaching and sole applying machine



Jan. 13, 1970 ca. LISCHER ET AL HEEL ATTACHING AND SOLE APPLYING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 15, 1967 Jan. 13, I970 G. LISCHER ETAL 3,48%;785

HEEL ATTACHING AND SOLE APPLYING MACHINE Filed Feb. 13. 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.3

Jam 13, 1970 G. LISCHER ETAL 3,488,785

HEEL ATTACHING AND SOLE APPLYING MACHINE Filed Feb. 13, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 i a nes:

Jam, 13, 1970 G. LISCHER ET AL HEEL ATTACHING AND SOLE APPLYING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent Int. Cl. A4l3d /00 US. Cl. 121 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for producing footwear, combining a heel attaching means and a sole applying means (both of which are customarily arranged as several individual machines) into a single machine so that both heel and sole attachment means are arranged to carry out their function in the usual manner, but in which both heel and sole attaching means, their functions and their drives are electrically controlled with respect to function and time from a common central unit, so that while the shoe to be processed is simultaneously presented to be heel and sole attaching means, the latter are actuated only in a succession appropriate for the proper proceeding of the working process.

In the production of shoes it is usual to attach the heels and press the soles to the shoes in separate operations and machines because these two operations are so completely different one from the other that it was impossible, up to the present, to combine them. A great disadvantage of these separate operations resides in the fact that although both operations have to be carried out under pressure, a common control of the machines was not readily possible because of the di ferent characters of the working devices.

Nothwithstanding these obviously existing difliculties the inventors have undertaken the task of combining two or more of such previously separate, diiferent working devices within only one single machine. This eliminates the necessity of a second machine and also the time for operating and preparing it, which results in a considerably increased output and, consequently, greater efliciency of the machine.

It will be evident that, when combining two thus far separately existing functions within one machine, the control of these functions also will have to be combined. In accordance with the invention this is accomplished completely automaticaly by the arrangement and combination, Within the machine, .of electric and pneumatic control means for all, for example, hydraulic and/ or pneumatic operations, once the machine has been actuated. If desired, a manual actuation step is included to initiate the transition from one working device to the other. The invention may thus be regarded as the continuation of a known arrangement in which merely several operations of one machine are combined and, in contrast thereto, the present invention consists in the combination of several machines each having separate operating steps different from those of the other machine, such for example as an hydraulic heel attaching machine and a penumatic sole applying machine, as already referred to, the operating steps of which are now being electrically controlled with respect to their sequence.

The drawings illustrate the invention by way of example for better understanding, partly purely schematic and partly in its practical embodiment; this embodiment is shown, in a conventional manner, as a unilateral twin machine for working on righ and left shoes.

In the illustrated embodiment, the machine is shown in a partly electro-hydraulic and partly electro-pneumatic construction, the hydraulic means serving to hold, i.e., clamp, the shoes in position and for the attachment of the heels, while the pneumatic means serve only for pressing the soles onto the shoes. A further advantage of this combination resides in that the novel machine can be produced and, consequently, sold much cheaper than two separate machines'for accomplishing the same work.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 shows one-half of the function diagram with the pneumatic and hydraulic devices, likewise indicated only schematically, together with the electrical controls thereof;

FIGURE 2 shows the electrical circuit diagram, indicating one-half thereof;

FIGURE 3 shows a top plan view of the machine with compression pad and clamping parts;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view after the table plate has been removed, taken on the line T-U-V-W of FIGURE FIGURE 5 is a vertical section along line N-O, in FIG- URE 3;

FIGURE 6 contains, in the left-hand portion thereof, a section along line IIK-L (FIG. 3), and, to the right of the center line, a section along line A-B-C-D-E-F- GH (FIG. 5) and FIGURE 7 shows a detail section along the section line R-S (FIG. 5).

The machine is a combination of the devices described as machines for heel attachment and sole application disclosed in US. patent applications Ser. Nos. 397,711 and 38,269/ 64.

Since the illustrated assembly is a twin machine, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate, for the sake of simplicity, only one side of the circuit, while the other, being a mirror image, has been omitted. By actuating the main switch 1 in FIG. 2 and pressing the key 2, the motor relay S becomes energized and is self-holding via the contact S Now the motor 5 begins to run, whereby the machine becomes operative and the lamp 3 lights up. Pump 4 (FIGS 1 and 3) begins to circulate the pressure fluid, oil for instance, from the container 7 via the solenoid valve 8.

To set the machine in operation, a fastening member for the heel, such as a nail, a drive screw, a screw nail or the like, is inserted in the sleeve in the machine at 6, the lasted shoe is placed on the last support 9, as usual, and the solenoid contractor S is actuated by the pedal switch 10, which closes an auxiliary contact, whereby the solenoid valve Mv becomes active. This interrupts the free circulation of the oil, which now enters into the clamping and nailing cylinders 13 and 14, respectively, via the two throttle valves 12 and 11, whereby the flow of the oil to the nailing cylinder 14 is throttled by the throttle valve 11 until the pressure cylinder 13, which actuates the clamping means 15, reaches its pre-set pressure so that the heel becomes clamped. Now the attaching member which has previously been placed in front of of the strike bolt 16 is driven by means of the nailing cylinder 14, by inside nailing, into the shoe; however, neither the function of the nailing cylinder nor that of the machine as a whole is limited to the conventional inside nailing process, but it can as well take place in any other manner. The shoe remains in clamped position for the time being, and the superfluous quantity of oil delivered by the pump is now returned into the container 7 through the pressure regulating valve 17.

Now the pneumatic mechanism is set in motion. Depressing the key 18 (FIG. 2) energizes the relay switch, contractor S which holds itself operative via the holding contact S whereupon the pre-set time relay Z in the circuit begins to operate. The air is released via the threeway magnetic solenoid valve 20 and exerts pressure, via the transfer piston 21, on the oil in the narrowed portion 22 of the cylinder, which oil passes via the pressuredependent closing valves 23 and 24 into the cylinders 25 and 26.

Whereas the aforedescribed pressure distributing stages form an essential part of the heel attaching arrangement, the cylinders 25 and 26, together with the parts to be described below, form the pneumatic pressure arrangement for the sole pressing pad. This is pivoted inwardly by the cylinder 25 after the key 18 has been depressed, while the toe support 17 adjusts to the pressure via the cylinder 26, corresponding to the clamping tension of the shoe. After the previously set low pressure has been reached, the relief valve 28 is opened by the pressure reducing valve 29, and the pressurized air passes via the rapid airrelief valve 30 and hose 31 into the pad or cushion 32 of the compressing device 33. At the same time, the two pressure-dependent closing valves 23 and 24 close and thereby block the further feed of oil.

Now the sole is pressed by the pressing device 33, under maintenance of the position of the shoe and the last 34, onto the nailing cylinder 14. The compression period being terminated, the two auxiliary contacts 35, 36 of the time relays 19 for the contactors S and S interrupt the supply of current, and the two solenoid valves 8 and 20 switch over to free passage. The pressure pad 32 is dehated by the quick-action air-relief valve 30 provided for this purpose, and the machine returns to its starting position. In order to press the sole with the force required, the pressure can be regulated by the pressure reducing valve 29.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show, as already mentioned, only one side of the machine for the operation on either a right or a left shoe, the other shoe being worked upon in the adjacent counterpart of the machine which is not shown. However, the pump 4 as well as the compressor 37 and a service unit 38 (FIG. 1) for the air are provided for both sides in common, i.e., only one of each for the twin machine.

What We claim is:

1. In a shoe heel and sole attaching machine, at least two operating stations, each station including stationary .4 means for holding a last and separate means for the permanent attachment of the heel through the last hole and the attaching of the outsole, and central control means including electrical means for controlling the operations at each station according to their functions and in the proper timing.

2. A machine for use in the manufacture of shoes as claimed in claim 1, including heel holding means, characterized in that the stationary last support at each station serves first for the attaching of the heel to the last hole with the use of control means that cause said last support to rise, the heel holding means to engage the heel under low pressure to urge the heel against the lasted shoe and to drive the lasting means under high pressure, and then serves for the sole pressing on device.

3. In a machine according to claim 2, said holding device being operated by oil supplied by a pump from a container regulated by a pressure regulating valve; and means whereby after the heel has been nailed to the shoe, the shoe remains clamped in the holding device until the oil supplied in excess by the pump is recycled into the container, through the pressure regulating valve, whereupon the machine is switched over to a pneumatic device for setting the pressure device into operation.

4. A machine according to claim 2, having a first pressure cylinder, a second pressure cylinder, said first pressure cylinder enabling a swing-in movement of the pneumatic pressing device, and said second pressure cylinder enabling the simultaneous approach of the toe support to the shoe; said means comprising a push button actuating device for switching over the electrical contr l circuit, after the heel attaching operation is terminated, in order to pivot the pneumatic device by means of the first pressure cylinder, simultaneously with the movement of the shoe toe tip support toward the shoe by the second pressure cylinder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

